Martha Hart, the widow of the late Owen Hart, has issued a public statement concerning the death of her husband and how it was recounted in the recent Netflix docuseries Mr. McMahon.
At Over The Edge 1999, Owen Hart tragically fell to his death as a result of faulty rigging equipment that was supposed to lower the former WWE star to the floor. In episode 4 of the Vince McMahon docuseries, Hart’s death is spoken about at length by a number of individuals, including Owen’s brother Bret Hart.
When asked if he felt it was right that the show had continued that night, McMahon defended his decision by saying that people “came to see a show. They didn’t come to see somebody die.” McMahon also added that if he had died during a show he would expect to see it continue.
The closing part of the episode stated that Hart’s death was ruled to be an accident, which Hart had also accepted when he received the news from the authorities. In a statement issued to The Daily Hive, Martha Hart condemned McMahon and WWE for the comments made and the events that took place that night in 1999:
“Netflix’s Mr. McMahon documentary series portrays the death of my husband, Owen Hart, as a mere accident. It also allows the disgraced former owner and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Vince McMahon, to claim that Owen’s death ‘wasn’t our fault.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. The real truth is that on May 23rd, 1999, out of a desire to cut costs and achieve a ‘quick release’ effect that a rigging expert specifically warned against, WWE hired unqualified riggers to arrange a stunt in which Owen was to rappel from the rafters during a wrestling event. As a result, the riggers used incorrect equipment that caused Owen to fall to his death. It was pure negligence that killed my husband.
“What the documentary fails to mention is that the equipment used was never meant for a rappelling stunt. Instead, a harness meant for dragging stunt people behind cars on movie shoots was used with a sailboat clip meant to release on load with only six pounds of pressure. Had the WWE hired qualified riggers who followed proper protocol that included redundancy, as is typical practice, and used the correct equipment, Owen would not have died that night.”
Martha Hart Not Asked To Participate In Docuseries
Continuing, Hart added that she was never asked to be featured as one of the talking heads in the series and that she still holds WWE responsible for the tragic event that occurred that night:
“To be clear, no one involved in the making of this documentary attempted to contact me for comment or to obtain an accurate perspective. I continue to hold WWE and its then-management responsible for Owen’s death. I refuse to let Vince McMahon or anyone else rewrite that history. Instead, I remain focused on honouring Owen’s legacy through the charitable good work of the Owen Hart Foundation and via the AEW Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.”
A wrongful death lawsuit was settled between Hart and WWE in 2000 for $18 million.
Featured image: WWE
